Meet the spotlight delegates – Lillian Francis

Hello everyone, another week another of our fabulous spotlight delegates for you to meet.

If you wrote an autobiography, what would its title be and why?
“A Plethora of Daisies”
It’s a random one. I’ve had that title in my head forever and I’ve never found a story that it suited. Of course having said that the next thing I write will probably fit it perfectly. I’ve always thought of it as being suitable for a 50’s noir style detective story, but if it was still unused by the time I finished my autobiography then I would whack it on that sucker in an instant, regardless that it has no bearing on my life or writing.
And yes, I know it would make much more sense to call it “A Plethora of Lilies”.
What has your writing journey been like from the start until now?
Like many others in our genre I started in fan fiction, quickly realised that I preferred writing AUs and from there it was just a quick hop, skip, and a jump to original fiction.
Since then it would be easy to focus on the negatives, how my first publisher had no idea how to market non-erotic gay romance so my first two novels have had little exposure to review sites, or how I didn’t receive a penny for any of my sales in my second year at Silver.
What I’d rather reflect on is how many wonderful people I’ve been exposed to by writing gay romance, from fandom friends to readers to other authors, people are always happy to help. From time consuming read-throughs, to the benefit of their experience and advice, right down to a kind word when things look bleak or a virtual hug. Nobody that I’ve meet in this genre has ever made me feel unworthy of their time simply because I’ve sold far less copies than they have.
And, whilst it has nothing to do with my writing, I have to thank Charlie Cochrane and KJ Charles for rekindling my teenage love of rugby that got buried somewhere under marriage and motherhood. My appreciation of solid thighs and broad shoulders is eternally grateful.
What do you hope to get from UK Meet that’s different from other conferences?
Well, since the UK Meet is the only conference I have ever been to this is a hard question to answer. My needs are simple. It’s less about learning hone my craft or finding the latest trends, although I do learn something at every new Meet, and more about being able to immerse myself in an atmosphere where I don’t need to explain—or censor—myself.
I want to chat to people I would normally only get to speak to via a keyboard.
I want to be stunned into silence by Liam Livings’ jackets.

STOP PRESS

UK MEET 2020
Location TBA

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